Screenies

[Ulstan]

No it doesn't. All that 'line' denotes is that the companies or battalions are adjacent to each other. Put one behind the other and it became a column, whether or not the formation was then wider than it was deep. As I said above, the words had a technical meaning which bore little relation to how the words 'line' and 'column' are used in ordinary English.

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I really think we're arguing the same thing here. That's exactly what I said. When the battalions are arranged into a formation deeper than they are wide (which is what happens when you stack them), it's a column. When they are arranged side by side so that they are wider than they are deep, it's a line. Moreover, I am speaking exactly of that technical meaning you keep referring to. Military formations are the only usage of the terms line and column where width vs depth comes into play. In ordinary English, the height of a line or the width of a column are completely irrelevant. What I'm talking about IS their technical meaning.

In fact I wasn't referring to lists of patients

The only figures I have seen posted in this thread is from a list of patients in a hospital.

An examination of contemporary accounts reveals that actual bayonet fights rather than charges which drive the enemy away were by far the exception

I've already said this too, at least as far as open field fighting is concerned. I can only conclude you're trying to argue that there shouldn't be any bayonet charges in the game at all, which would be a gross travesty of historical accuracy.